Aquinas on Holy Scripture as the medium of divine revelation

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LEO J. ELDERS S.V.D.
Rolduc
AQUINAS ON HOLY SCRIPTURE AS THE MEDIUM
OF DIVINE REVELATION
I. As it is argued in other papers of this symposium, St. Thomas
holds that revelation is primarily something taking place in the human
intellect and not a visible historical event or an ontological structure
such as the person of Jesus Christ. According to St. Thomas it consists
formally in the illumination of the mind by God(1). The events as
such, recorded in the Bible, and in particular in the gospels, are not yet
revelation in the strict sense of the term: the insight into their significance,
given by God to the apostles and evangelists, constitutes revelation. In
fact, revelation is the impression of God's knowledge on the mind of
the apostle or prophet. This communication as such takes place in a
passing way, although the knowledge communicated remains present in
the apostles and in the Church.
Revelation concerns God as hè is in himself and his plan with man
and the world, inasmuch as the latter is related to man's salvation(2).
For this reason revelation is not restricted to supernatural truth which
as such is totally hidden from man's natural reason. Sometimes it com-
municates natural truths of wich the knowledge is necessary or useful
for us in order to reach out supernatural destination. These truths can
be discovered by reason although only few people effectively come to
know them with certitude and without error. All revealed truths have
in common that their knowledge is useful for man's eternal salvation(3).
St. Thomas repeatedly points out that revelation is necessary for man's
fulfilment man has a certain capacity for the vision of God; his most
0) II-II 176, 2: «... consistit in ipsa illuminatione mentis ». Cf. Summa contra
gentiles III 154: «Revelatie fit quodam interiori et intelligibüi lumine mentem ele-
vante ad percipiendum ea quae per lumen natutale intellectus pertingere non potest».
(2) II-II 171, 3.
(3) De veritate 12, 2: « ... omnia illa quorum cognitio potest esse utilis ad
salutem ».
AQUINAS ON HOLY SCRIPTURE AS THE MEDIUM 133
profound desire is to see God. However, the beatific vision which is
man's last end, exceeds whatever man can conceive. To know his true
vocation and final destination as well as the road leading to it and the
means allowing him to reach it, man needs divine revelation (4).
The beatific vision, man's beatitude, can be implemented only by
the fullness of revelation, for God must « reveal» his innermost being
to man, so that the divine essence is the intelligible species in which and
through which the blessed see God, being at the same time that which
they know{5). Since whatever is less perfect in a genus depends on the
first in this genus, imperfect revelation must receive its specification
from the visio beata: since this is the ultimate gift by which God sur-
renders himself to man, any supernatural revelation is always an encounter
between God and the prophet who receives it.
"Speaking now not of this ultimate revelation, but of revelation
given to man on earth, the Christian faith affirms that this revelation
has been granted to a limited number of people who must transmit it to
othérs (6). Aquinas calls them prophets and apostles. Many of them
wrote down what God revealed to them. Hence the question arises
of the relationship between revelation and Holy Scripture.
We commonly speak of a divine inspiration of the authors of the
sacred text of the Bible which is also called « the inspired book ». Ac-
cording to St. Thomas the term «inspiration » signifies a certain mo-
vement given to man from the outside(7). When applied to the authors
of Holy Scripture the term inspiratio means that God makes the sacred
author write down what hè wants him to write lifting up his mind, so
that the author will better be able to understand, and moving his will.
However, whenever the message conveyed has a meaning related to
salvation which the recipiënt of inspiration does not or cannot know
by his natural powers, the understanding itself of what hè writes is given
to the author by revelation. For instance, when St. Paul writes about the
implications of Jesus' death and resurrection or about marriage as a sacra-
ment, hè communicates revealed knowledge. But in those passages in
(4) I l, 1: «Knem autem oportet esse praecognitum hominibus qui suas in-
tentiones et actiones debent ordinare in finem. Unde necessarium fuit homini ad
salutem quod ei nota fierent quaedam per revelationem divinam quae rationem
humanam excedurit».
(5) II-II 171, 4 ad 2: «Perfectio autem divinae revelationis erit in patria».
(6) See Dei verbum. Cf. Expos. in l Cor., c. 14, 1.1: « ad hoc f-nim Deus re-
velat ut aliis denuntientur ».
(7) I-II 68, 1: «Inspiratio. significa! quandam motionem ab exteriori. Est
enim considerandum .quod in homine est duplex principium movens. Unum quidem
interius quod est ratio; aliud autem exterius quod est Deus ». • ;
134 LEO J. ELDERS
which an inspired author only presents historical events, hè came to
know by natural means, without dwelling on their theological meaning,
inspiration is not accompanied by a special revelation (8).
In their edition of the French translation of the treatise on prophecy
Synave and Benoit write that for St. Thomas « inspiration» precedes
revelation; it lifts up the mind above its ordinary level and increases its
intellectual vigour. Revelation follows and works in the judgment which
the mind forms when it has been elevated in this way. In current
theological writing this distinction is not always made; the term inspira-
tion is used to cover the entire process of divine causality on the mind
of the sacred author.
II. According to St. Thomas revelation is a communication of
knowledge and so hè writes that it is given « per modum cuiusdam
doctrinae »(9). In recent theological literature it is of ten argued that
revelation is not so much the communication of a message as events in
the history of salvation by means of which God reveals himself, Jesus
Christ being the supreme revelation. As a matter of fact, in the Constitu-
tion Dei Verbum Vatican II declares that God has revealed himself by
events. In his intellectualism Aquinas would have stressed unilaterally
the cognitive aspect of revelation. In reply to this widespread criticism
we answer
(a) Revelation is obviously about God himself, his plan of salva-
tion and the means hè choses to bring man to eternal life. The entire
object of the faith comes in under revelation. If one uses the term
« revelation » in a broad and not very precise sense, one may say that,
for instance, Jesus himself and the events of his life are God's revela-
tion to man. — Vatican II intended to be a pastoral council and the
terminology it uses is not necessarily that of scientific theology. If
Jesus Christ himself is formally God's revelation to man, how can Dei
Verbum say that the revelation is closed with the end of the apostolic
period, since Christ lives now and for ever?
(b) Those who say that, formally speaking, revelation consists in
both words (knowledge imparted) and events face the not so very easy
task of explaining what the essence of revelation is, since they make
the term signify essentially heterogeneous things. But there is perhaps
more behind this « modern view » than appears at first sight. Those
(8) II-II 171, l ad 4: «Ad prophetiam icquiritut inspiratie quantum ad jnen-
tis elevationem, revelatio autem quantum ad ipsam perceptionem divinorum, in qua
perficitur prophetia; per ipsam removetur obscuritas et ignorantiae velamen ».
{') II-II 171, 6.
AQUINAS ON HOLY SCR1PTURE AS THE MEDIUM 135
who defend this view probably believe as most contemporary philosophers
(and all those who follow Suarez) do, that there is a chasm between
man's knowledge and reality: in their view man does not grasp and
know things directly in themselves, but hè only knows his own con-
cepts. These concepts « represent », more or less adequately, partly or
hardly at all, the things which remain outside man. When a theologian
subscribes to this kind of epistemology (perhaps often even without
realizing how partial this opinion is), hè is bound to introducé a certain
duality into the concept of revelation to avoid depriving it from its
caracter of a personal encounter with God. However, the epistemology
of Aquinas is very different: in the intelligible species the things them-
selves, in their intélligibility, come the intellect to be present there in
man's being. The knowing subject becomes the thing known, so that
both are one, as Aristotle and a venerable philosophical tradition teach.
In this way, supernaturally revealed knowledge is itself the presence
(although mostly only partially so and under the veil of theological
analogy) of the realities of salvation. For this reason revelation dëfined
as St. Thomas does, is necessarily an encounter with and self-communica-
tion of God.
We-need not dweil on the philosophical implications of a rejection
of this Aristotelian epistemology. So much is evident that its refusal
opens the door to a pervasive subjectivism and destroys the metaphysics
of being. Theologically this realism is confirmed by what the faith and
theology teach about the perfection of man's knowledge in the beatifïc
vision: God's essence is both the species through which the blessed
know God and God's reality itself present in them in an all surpassing
union.
(c) St. Thomas' definition of revelation is in perfect agreement with
the preponderant use of the term in Sacred Scripture. In fact, as in
othe fields of theology, here too Aquinas's account is based on a most
careful analysis of Holy Scripture which speafcs of the communication to
man. of a special message. One may think of the Letters t o the Romans,
the Hebrews or the Galatians. In Gal. l, 3 Paul writes that hè learned
the message (hè preached) through a revelation of Jesus Christ. In
Gal. l, 5 hè says « God chose to reveal his Son in Paul >>.
The favourite term by means' of which the Bible describes this
message is « word ». When a man speaks hè manifests his thpughts by
;
means of words{10). Li'kewise God manifests his being and his holy
(I0) I 107, 1: «Nihil aliud est loqui ad alterum quam cónceptum mentis alteti
manifestare». . ' . • '"
136 LEO J. ELDERS
will be means of an instrument, viz. the representations in the mind
of the prophet hè «requisitions» (or infuses) to be used in the
super-analogy of the faith and, secondly and principally, the insights
hè plaees in the intellect of the prophet (n). One should notice the
juxtaposition of « representations » and «insights » in Aquinas' explana-
tion of prophetical knowledge: in f act, while rëvelation conveys knowledge
about God's hidden plan' of salvation it does neither always nor predo-
minantly use representations and concepts the prophet did not yet khow
(although it can do so). But it is always a spiritual process in which,
owing to a special prophetic illumination, the prophet perceives a super-
natural sense in certain representations of things, events (and persons)
or in certain sayings(12). The events are either those of the past or
of his own time of or the future which hè sees bef ore him.. In the case
of the apostles and evangelists this illumination concerned the meaning
of the Old Testament as well as Jesus, his teachings, his life, death
and resurrection.
The apostolic preaching of the mystery of salvation was f uil of
life and vigour because it was sustained by this most profound personal
experience of divine rëvelation. It would be a mistake, however, to
think that this kerygma was alive because it was not yet formalised
in propositions and that, on the óther hand, the message became petrified
when it was fixed in dogma tic formulae. The kerygma of the apostles
and their helpers was not a sort of spontaneous talking about the events
of Jesus' life and death. It was an authentic announcing of his mes-
sage destined to all, which from the very beginning made use of
specially coined formulae, the so-called pre-symbola(13).
This message was « the truth » (l Tim. 6, 5; 2 Tim. 2, 18; 3, 8;
4, 4; Tit. l, 14). Jesus called the word of his Father and Himself
Truth (John 17, 17; 14, 6). In doing so hè indicated that rëvelation
must be understood intellectually. Moreover, in the New Testament
the kerygma is also described as a doctrine (Matthew 7, 28; Mare 6,
2; John 6, 16; Acts 2, 42). In the Pastoral Letters the term doctrine
occurs fifteen times. The Apostles and their helpers were apparently
aware of the fact that the terms «to teach» and «teaching» or
« doctrine » (didaskein and didaskdHa) expressed very well two aspects
which they feit to the essential for the kerygma: its ihtellectual con-
(11) II-II 173, 3.
(12) For example, af ter the resurrection of Jesus the apostles «understood»
the meaning of much of what hè had told them.
(n) See H. SCHLIER, «Zur Grundlegung des Dogmas im Neuen Testament»,
'm.Die Zeit der Kirche. Exegetische Atifsdtze und Vortrage, vol. 3, Freiburg 1962,
206-232, p. 214. • . •,
AQUINAS ON HOLY SCRIPTURE AS THE MEDIUM 137
tent and its authoritative transmission (14). St. Thomas summarises
these fact by means of his concise expression that « revelation has been
given by the way of a certain doctrine (I5).
Christ, hè writes, is the first and principal teacher of the faith(16).
Christ taught his disciples who instructed others by oral and written
teaching (I7). Thk message of Christ is also destined to future genera-
tions, and for this reason it was committed to writing so that it would
be preserved in lts pure form. The writings of the apostles, that is
the canonical Scriptures, contain the doctrine of salvation as they taught
it and as it must be handed down to posterity. The purpose of the
written word is to' impress the doctrine in the hearts of people(18),
for the contents of Holy Scripture are no other than the doctrine of
salvation. Now this doctrine consists mainly of supernatural knowledge
but it concerns also certain natural truths presupposed by the faith, such
as the existence of God, man's spiritual nature, the basic precepts of
natural law, etc.
Holy Scripture contains the substance of divine revelation which is
its source(19). In this way Scripture may be called the vesseland ex-
pression of divine revelation. For this reason St. Thomas speaks of the
authority of Sacred Scripture which is the foundation of the faith (20).
« The formal object of the faith is the Primary Truth insofar as it is
manifested in Holy Scripture »(21). Therefore Scripture is the regula
fidei, the rule of the faith, .to which nothing may be added or f f om
which nothing can be subtracted(22).
Sacred Scripture, containing as it does the doctrine of Christ and
the Apostles, transmits the truth which man needs to know in order to
be. saved(23). Therefore, one finds in it « practically the entire doctrine
óf theology »(24). This sentence must be understood in the strict sense
of the terms: theology is a science which must reach certain conclusions;
to this effect it must start from absolutely certain foundations. Tradi-
(14) See K.H. RENGSTDORF in Kittel's ThWNT II 148.
(ls) II-II 171, 6: «...per modum cuiusdam doctrinae».
(16) III 7, 7.
(") III 42, 4: « ..verbo et scripto docuerunt».
(18) III 12, 4: « Scripta ordinantur ad impiessionem doctrinae in cordibus audito
tum sicut ad finem».
(19) I l, 2 ad'2: «revelatio super quam fundatur sacra scriptura».
(20) III 55, 5: « ... auctoritas Sacrae Scripturae quae est fidei fundamentum».
(21) JI-II 5, 3. . • '
'(22) In De div. nominibusc. 2, 1.1. Vgl. Expos. in Evang. loann. c. 21, L6:
« Sacra Scriptuta est regula fidei cui nee addere nee subtrahere licet».
••• (23) Quodl. VII, q. 6, a. 1.
(24) Super epist. sancti Pauli, Prol.
138 LEO J. ELDERS
don does not always present such an absolutely certain basis as Holy
Scripture does. Theologians need established texts to analyse and to
argue from. The assertion of St. Thomas must not be taken to mean
that the Bible alone is sufficient for the faith of the Church and for
Christian life. The object of the faith encompasses more than that
which is expressed in the Bible. Certain doctrines were not put down
in writing by the Apostles but transmitted orally under the motion of
the Höly Spirit. Aquinas quotes as examples the rule that Christians
may adore an Image of Christ(25); the form of the sacrament of con-
firmation (26). Apparently the Church holds many things with regard
to the sacraments which it received from the traditïon of the apostles.
The faith in the assumption of Mary has also been transmitted by oral
tradition (27). In his excellent study on Sacra doctrina. Reason and
Revelation in Aquinas E. Persson mentions another text illustrating the
role of traditions (28): according to St. Thomas we know from the tradi-
tion of the Church that all mankind is infected by sin (29). Aquinas ap-
parently intends to say that the Church teaches in a more determinate
form what is indicated in Genesis, c. 3 and by St. Paul in his Letter to
the Romans.
This takes us to another point. When St. Thomas says that Sacred
Scripture is the principal foundation of the faith, this must not be
understood in the sense of Scripture taken in isolation, — in the marmer
of Luther's sola scriptura —; for hè considers always the Bible as it is
known, used and interpreted by the Church. In this regard Aquinas
followed the agelong tradition of the Fathers and the great theologians.
As they say, the Bread of life, given to us in the sacra pagina must be
ground by the teeth of tradition. St. Augustine writes, that Sacred
Scripture is to be read in fide catholica (30). Without the Church and
her magistry there is no correct interpretation of the Bible (31). ,
In order to make the essentials of the gospel message more readily
available and easily accessible to man, the apostles or their succes-
(«) III 25, 3 ad 4.
(26) III 64, 2 ad l: « Et licet non sint otnnia tradita in Scripturis, habet tamen
ea Ecclesia ex familiari apostolorum traditione... ». . - .
<27) III 27, 1. See the excellent study of G. GEENEN, «The Place of Tradition
in the Theology of St. Thomas», in The Tbomist 15 (1952) 110-135.
(28) English translation, Oxford 1970.
(29) SCG IV 54: « Ex traditione Ecclesiae docemur totum humanum genus pec-
cato esse infectum».
(3") De Gen. ad litt. XII, c. 37, n. 70.
(31) See H. DE LUBAC, Exegese médiévale: les quatre sens de l'Ecriture, I l,
Paris 1959, 56 ff. .
AQUINAS ON HOLY SCRIPTURE AS THE MEDIUM 139
sors composed the Aposlt's Creed and the other early symböls such
as the Nicene Creed (32). These creeds do not add anything to Holy
Scripture, but state and make explicit what is contained in it ("). Because
of this identity in content St. Thomas affirms that the teaching and in-
terpretation of divine revelation by tradition and the magistry of the
Church is also the rule of the faith, for this rule is one with its founda-
tional source, the written Word of God (34). The doctrine of the Church
proceeds from the First Truth as manifested in Sacred Scripture. -In this
way one may even say that the sense of revelation is shown in the
doctrine of the Church or, even shorter, the sense of Sacred Scripture is
the doctrine of the Church (35). As E. Persson writes, « the teaching
of the church is to be understood essentially as the interpretation of
scripture »(36).
III. This conclusion confronts us with the question of what is
precisely revealed in Holy Scripture. The Bible is a collection of books
and texts, in different literary genera, written under divine inspiration.
As we have seen, Aquinas makes his own the firm conviction of all the
Fathers that Sacred Scripture is the mistrett of our faith and the food
of our supernatural life. As St. Gregory the Great writes, it is the
bread which in the last period of time all men will eat in the house of
Job (37). The sacred text has such a depth of sense that it provides
material for never ending meditation. The Bible is f uil of divine
wisdom. St. Jerome speaks of an infinita sensuum silva(3*) and St.
Gregory say that we labour its incredible depth as if we were on the
high seas (39). According to St. Augustine the Sacred Book does some-
times show a certain obscurity in order that Christians may discover
several ways of understanding and so find themselves enrichened(40).
(32) II-II l, 9: « ... necessarium fuit veritatem fidei in unum colligi ut facilius'
posset omnibus proponi».
<33) II-II l, 9 ad 2: « ... quae in nullo alio differunt nisi quod in uno plenius
explicantur quae in alio continentur implicite secundum quod odgebat haereticotum
instantia».
(34) II-II 5, 3: «Manifestum est quod ille qui inhaeret doctrinae Ecclesiae,
tamquam infallibili regulae, omnibus assentit quae Ecclesia docet».
(35) II-II 5, 3 ad 2: «Omnibus articulis fidei inhaeret fides propter unum
medium, scilicet propter veritatem primam propositam nobis in Scripturis secun-
dum doctrinam Ecclesiae intelligentis sane».
{«) O.c., p. 70.
F) Moralia 35, c. 14, n. 26.
<38) Episf. 64, c. 21.
C39) In I Reg., proem.: PL 79, 19AC.
{t°) In Ps. 126, n. 11.
140 LEO' J. ELDERS
More recently John Henry Newman also drew attention to the inexhaustible
treasures of the Bible « It is in point to notice also the structure and
style of Scripture, a structure so unsystematic and various and a style so
figurative and indirect, that no one would presume at first sight to say
what is in it and what is not. It cannot, as it were, be mapped, or its
contents catalogued; but af ter all out diligence, to the end of our lives
and to the end of the Church, it must be an unexplored and unsubdued
land, with heights and valleys, forests and streams, on the right and left
of our path and close about it, full of concealed wonders and chpice
treasures. Of no doctrine whatever, which does not actually contradict
what has been delivered, can it be peremptorily asserted that it is not in
Scripture; of no reader, whatever be his study of it, can it be said that
hè has mastered every doctrine which it contains » (4I).
IV. At this juncture we must discuss the theory of the manifold
senses of Holy Scripture in relation to divine revelation. St. Paul
established the principle of the distinction between the spiritual and the
literal sense: the allegorical meaning of the entire Old Testament, hè
writes, is Christ. Ever since St. Paui's time the Christian doctors have
been searching for the spiritual meaning of the various texts of the Old
Testament. Hieronymus notes « Spiritualiter intelligere debemus. Post
historiae veritatem, spiritualiter accipienda sunt omnia »(42). According
to St. Augustine, « Vetus Testamentum in Novo revelatum, in Vetere
Novum velatum vide»(43). The Bible is essentially the mystenorum
scriptura (44). St. Augustine even goes so far as to say that the spiritual
understanding of Holy Scripture is Christian freedom. According St.
Gregory, whatever is in Holy Scripture must be understood allegorically
and in a moral sense (4S). Of Job hè says: « Dum sua dicit, nostra
praedicit»(46). As C.H. Dodd writes: «For the Christian theologians,
the fuller revelation of God is also the revelation of his intentions with
us » (4?). In view of this position of the great doctors it is not surprising
that medieval exegetes were eager to discover the spiritual sense of a great
number of passages, not only of the Old Testament, but also of events
recounted in the Gospels. They feit that the literal sense of the text
was not the whole reason why the Bible had been given to them C48),
God makes himself known through Scripture. Thus St. Augustine in-
(41) An Essay on the Developmerit of Christian Doctrine, Part I, c. l, l, § 14.
(42) In Isaiam Prophetam, prol.: .PL 24, 20B.
(«) In Ps. 105, n. 36.
<44) Contra Julianum, VI, 7, n. 20.
(4S) In Ezech. II 2, 15.
{«) Moralia 20, 1: PL 76, 135D.
(47) The Bible Today, 161.
(48) DE LUBAC, o.c., I 484.
AQÜINAS ON HÓLY SCRlPTÜRË AS THE MEDIUM 141
vites us « Factum audivimus, mysterium requiramus » (49). In this regard
there is a marked contrast with the attitude of most contemporary
exegetes who, as L. Cerfaux writes, assume that only a small number of
texts have such a spiritual sense(50).
Already at an early date this spiritual sense was subdivided. Besides
the allegorical and moral sense the Sacred Text was also feit to have an
anagogical sense: the events of the Jerusalem on earth foreshadow and
point to the reality of the heavenly Jerusalem, the fulfilment of Christian
hope. In this way a distinction was made between the allegorical, moral
and anagogical senses. As St. Thomas did with regard to numerous
other questions, hè provided a theological explanation of these different
spiritual meanings. About 1265 a disciple of Aquinas, Augustine of Dacia,
published an essay, the Rotulus pugilaris, in which hè expressed the
doctrine of the fourfold sense of Scripture as taught by his master:
Littera gesta docet; quid credas allegoria; moralis quid agas; quo tendas
anagogica.
However, as we have indicated, this theory of the four senses is not a
typically Thomistic doctrine. It has been read in St. Augustine, but in
its developed form it is probably somewhat later.
In three places of his works Aquinas gives an explanation of this
derivation. The texts are almost identical. The following is is a sum-
mary of Quodl. VII, q. 6, articles l and 3 and a translation of the main
part of the second article (51).
In his study of the question of the different senses of Sacred
Scripture St. Thomas proceeds methodically. He first establishes that
there are other senses besides the literal sense. Some formidable objec-
tions seem to exclude any sense other than the literal one: a text should
not be ambiguous; if it has more than one meaning, it will no longer
be clear and may lead to error; moreover, the non-literal sense is useless
in theological arguments; the author of the text had in mind only one
sense. — Over and against these objections Aquinas quotes a text from
Daniel and this observation of Hieronymus: « In verbis singulis multiplices
latent intelligentiae ». The argument in favour of the existence of a
spiritual sense of the sacred text is brief: Scripture must manifest that
truth to us which is necessary for our salvation. The truth about
{49) In loati. Evang., tr. 50, n. 6.
<50) « Simples réflexions a propos de l'exégèse apostolique », ETL 25 (1949) 575.
<51) As P. SYNAVE suggests («La doctrine de saint Thomas d'Aquin sur Ie
sens littéral des Ecritures», in Revue Biblique 35 (1926) 40-65, p. 52) Aquinas
may have chosen the subject of the senses of Holy Scripture for his inaugural
disputation as a master in theology (1256). At this occasion his public lecture
was thé famous « Rigans montes ».